DEBBIE-Jane Gray was a devoted young mum-of-two. Her life was cut short at 27 after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

She wanted this family photograph to be taken, shortly after being diagnosed, as a lasting memory.

Last month the Telegraph reported that all girls aged 12 and 13 in Year 8 across Coventry and Warwickshire are to be offered a cervical cancer jab from September.

They will be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted infection human pappillomavirus (HPV) which causes 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.

After reading the story Debbie-Jane's heart-broken mother, Linda Player, wrote this poignant letter to the paper:

"With regards to the cancer jab injections against cervical cancer, I feel this is an answer to our prayers. I wouldn't wish any parent to have to go through seeing their daughter die like we had to do with our daughter. Had this injection been available then she would have still been alive today.

"She was a young mum with two small children. I know my daughter, Debbie-Jane, would have wanted me to speak up to help others."

Linda and her husband Eddie, both aged 59, of Daneswood Road, Binley Woods, Coventry, say the pain of losing Debbie-Jane, the eldest of three children, on January 19, 2000, will never go away.

Ex-Peugeot worker Eddie said: "If these drugs work it's marvellous. You cannot think twice about it - you are gambling with a child's life.

"Losing your child is not the order of things. I don't think you ever learn to live with it. I struggle with it every day. "

Housewife Linda said: "Some parents think it may lead to girls becoming permissive but I don't agree; the aim is to prevent cervical cancer.

"I am a committed Christian. I would be the first to let have my child have the jab and hope my grand-daughters will have it.

"I hoped and prayed that something would come about so young ladies do not have to suffer like our Debbie-Jane did.

"She was such a beautiful young lady; so courageous, so brave and such a lovely person. Her husband was the only love of her life and she said having her children was the equivalent of winning the lottery."

The couple have two sons - father-of-four Nick, aged 32, a special needs teacher, and Luke John, aged 27, who works in IT - and six grandchildren - Keaton, now 10, Mason, now 14, Ruben, aged six, Corrin, aged four, Isaac, aged three and two-year-old Illyana-Jane.

Debbie-Jane was diagnosed with aggressive cervical cancer just after her 27th birthday in 1999 and died within a year.

A young mum living in Allesley Park, Coventry, she was devoted to husband, Mark, now aged 37, a self-employed antiques dealer, and their two little boys. Mason was just two, and Keaton was five, when they lost their mother.

Linda, who attends the Church in Binley Woods, says her faith has provided strength.

She said: "My dad always brought us up to accept death but nothing prepares you for losing a child. Losing my daughter was like losing part of me, deep inside.

"Before she died she said: 'Mum, I had a happy childhood. I have lived all my dreams. All I ever wanted to do was get married and have a family.' I hold on to that.

"You think death as a mountain ahead. When it did happen I was totally paralysed. It is every mum's nightmare.

"Now I see young ladies her age and think of Debbie-Jane. I touch her writing."

Debbie-Jane took her 'A' levels and planned to become a social worker. Instead she met Mark, and they fell "head over heels". The couple married 15 years ago.

One day Debbie-Jane found a lump and went to see her doctor. She had a blood test which proved positive for cervical cancer.

Linda said: "She was told she had cervical cancer and it was aggressive. We were totally paralysed but I went into 'mother mode' trying to be positive.

"Her eyes were sparkling and she looked well - it was hard to believe."

Eddie added: "Debbie-Jane was always very fit - she swam for the county and played judo. She never smoked, hardly ever drank and did not like sweets or cakes."

Linda said: "Mark was the love of her life. She loved life and she loved her kids.

"Her main concern was her family. She got books on 'how to tell your children you have cancer'. Mason was only two - he can't remember his mum. We have videos of her but have never played them. We can't.

"The doctors tried everything and she couldn't have had better treatment. The tumour was the size of a grapefruit.

"Staff at the hospital were wonderful - she couldn't have had better treatment. They were so upset as they had not had such a young patient with cervical cancer for a long time."

Linda said: "Life started going out of her. She said to me: 'What do I do mum'?

"I said: 'Prepare as if you are going to go and then you have nothing to worry about.'

"She even organised her own funeral, so it was child-friendly.

"Our Debbie made a book for Mason present and wrote letters to us all. She bought presents for the boys to open when they are 18."

Debbie-Jane had the pleasure of seeing her sons as page boys at her brother's wedding and performing in a Salvation Army Nativity play at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre," said Linda.

By Christmas 1999 the young mum was in a wheelchair.

Linda said: "She wanted to see the Millennium in. She said to the specialist, 'Keep me alive until then'.

"On the way home from hospital he asked Mark to drive her past the place where they'd first met on Binley Road. We all went round to her house for Christmas. She wanted to die at home. She died on January 19, 2000."

CERVICAL CANCER KILLS 1,000 WOMEN EVERY YEAR

COVENTRY and Warwickshire Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) write to all women to let them know they are eligible for free cervical screening.

Women aged 25 to 49 are asked to have another smear every three years; while women aged 50 - 64 are asked to take the test every five years.

Both PCTs are promotion the regional cervical screening awareness campaign, "What's Pants, but Could Save Your Life" including a website, www.pants.nhs.uk